


Post-filming Blues

by rosencrantzandguildensternarentdead



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, References to mass murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-09 04:21:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12268791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosencrantzandguildensternarentdead/pseuds/rosencrantzandguildensternarentdead
Summary: The constant talk of murder gets Shane down. Ryan makes him smile again.





	Post-filming Blues

“...the case will remain… unsolved.” Ryan nodded to the camera, signaling the end of the episode and stood, muscles in his back protesting as he stretched. Around him, others were preparing to pack up and leave but Shane had yet to move. Instead, he sat at the table, eyes down, fiddling with a pen.

“Well, that went okay,” Ryan offered. “I’m going to have to edit out the part where I sneezed like a hundred times, but it looks like it’s gonna be a good episode.”

Shane hummed vaguely, still not looking up.

“Shane? You alright?”

Shane jolted, as if Ryan had snuck up on him, and turned to face his friend. “Yeah, no, it’s fine.”

Ryan titled his head and examined Shane. He looked pale. Large shadows hung beneath his eyes. Ryan glanced away and, seeing that they were the only two left in the room, he retook his seat. “You don’t seem fine,” he said bluntly.

Shane scrubbed a hand over his face. His nails were short and rough, as if he had been biting them. “Just tired, I guess.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow. “No, when you need to sleep, you get all keyed up. You turn into Charlie fucking Sheen.” Ryan leaned forward, forcing Shane to look at him instead of the tabletop. “C’mon, you’ve got me worried. Let me help?”

Shane grimaced. “Don’t be mad, okay?”

Ryan frowned, starting to catalogue every interaction he had had with Shane that week, anxious that he had caused his distress. “Yeah, dude, I promise.”

“I’ve been dreading this ever since you thought of it. I didn’t want to do it.”

“Wait, do what?” Ryan began to panic. Shane didn’t want to work with him? Talk to him? Be in the same building as him? Twin horrors rose up in his chest; the fear that Shane was rejecting him, and the fear that this was all his fault.

“This episode, the mass murders.” Shane bit his lip. “I’m sorry, you were excited and it interests you and I’m ruining it, people are going to see it in the episode, they’re going to want to know why I was so fucking miserable, but I kept thinking about it, all week. I keep thinking about all those people and how many died and how shitty it must have been and their families and, and the world fucking sucks, there were children there and I have to make some light, funny comment, it’s bullshit, I can’t-”

“Shane! Breathe.” Ryan had instinctively grabbed Shane’s hand when he interrupted his desperate stream of panic. He began to rub his thumb across his friend’s knuckles, hoping it would soothe him.

Shane took a couple of ragged breaths. When he spoke again, his voice was soft and scared. “It’s horrible.”

Ryan didn’t speak. What could he say that would make a series of killings seem okay? Instead he shifted closer, wrapping Shane in a hug. He felt the other man relax, letting Ryan support some of his weight.

For a long time they simply breathed together. Eventually, Shane pulled away, looking a little calmer.

“We can take a break,” Ryan said softly. “You’re right, it’s too much to keep doing this every week.”

Shane shook his head. “No, you don’t have to, it’s just me, I’m being-”

“I’m not going to keep making episodes if it makes you miserable,” Ryan continued, voice still soft but firm. “We can have a mid-season hiatus.”

Shane looked confused. “It will throw all the schedules off, it’s not worth the extra work. It’s not worth our bosses being pissed at you.”

“Sure it is. You have my back for the supernatural episodes, let me do the same for you on true crime.” Ryan smiled at Shane as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

“I’m sorry,” Shane offered, both an agreement and an apology wrapped up in one self-deprecating expression.

“You don’t have to be sorry. It’s fine, honest.”

Shane looked at Ryan for a minute, still unsure. As Ryan looked back encouragingly, Shane felt a vague warmth somewhere in his chest. Heart disease perhaps, Shane thought, or maybe affection. He hoped for affection. Here Ryan was, being lovely and supportive, it would be a shame to die on him out of some cardiovascular objection. Shane’s heart fluttered as he registered Ryan’s hand still covering his own. Affection, then.

Shane took a breath. “You, erm. Thanks. For being, well, uh, thanks… for the whole-” He gestured vaguely, “For the whole Ryan thing.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow, looking amused. “The Ryan thing?”

“Yeah. That thing you do where you’re all… yeah. You’re kind of great.”

Ryan beamed. “You’re welcome.”

“And, you know, surprisingly sweet for the whole serial killer nerd thing.”

Ryan barked a surprised laugh at that.

“No, seriously!” Shane’s smile was back. “You’re probably the only person who can be cute geeking out over Jack the Ripper.”

“Cute?” Ryan cocked his head, smile becoming more mischievous. “I’m handsome and manly, thanks.”

“Yeah, that too. But definitely still cute,” Shane insisted.

“I guess you’re pretty cute too. For the the offspring of Bigfoot and a giraffe anyway,” Ryan countered, suddenly aware that, although they could usually pass this off as friendly banter, he was still holding hands with Shane. Shit, he realised distantly. I’m flirting with him. And he’s flirting with me. And I’m okay with it. Well, fuck.

Meanwhile, Shane was separately coming to the same conclusion. He dropped his eyes from Ryan’s, feeling himself starting to blush. Instead, he ended up staring at their linked hands, which didn’t help much on the blushing front.

“Okay,” Ryan said, noticing Shane’s hesitation. “Now we either have to make out or say this was just guys being dudes and go our separate ways.”

Shane chuckled. “Split the difference? I ask you on a date and we make out later?”

“That could work,” Ryan agreed. He stood up to leave, gathering his things. “Text me the details, yeah?”

Shane mirrored him, smiling more than he had all day. “Sure.”

Ryan left the room and made his way to his car. Before he had even found his keys, his phone buzzed.

_thanks for everything today. drinks after we film post mortem?_

_Sounds perfect. I had an idea - we have supernatural and true crime._ _How about unsolved: ufos?_

_you are an alien obsessed freak_

...

_still cute tho_

 


End file.
